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They have a chart on the wall with a list and the nurses sign off on it. I’ll take a closer look in the morning. When I got there today the nurse gave him two pills. She said one was a stool softener and the other one was potassium. I’m pretty sure she said the blood thinner was Heparin, but I’ll ask tomorrow or look on the IV bag. They said he would have to be on a blood thinner for at least 6 months after he gets home.

When he’s at home, he only takes three medications. One is for blood pressure and the other two are for prostate.

She said one was a stool softener and the other one was potassium.

Sounds about right

Was in hospital for a couple of weeks in Surgery recovery ward.

My potassium was checked every 4 hours...discharge was when Doc satisfied with the trend.

Potassium is referred to as ‘K.’ A lot of procedures will simply not be done unless the ‘K’ is stable. The values are very tight and they are critically important. Rarely is the word ‘Potassium’ utilized, it is almost always ‘K.’

It is often one of the first queries made of ICU Nurses by Physicians during ‘rounding’ or Code type situations. Especially Code situations actually. ‘What’s the Patient’s K?’ They do not mess around with that one.

Colace is the most common ‘stool softener’ of my familiarity. It tends to be a sort of standard Rx in hospitals. They have ordered it for me a few times but I have always declined it, never actually taken any to my knowledge. The Nurses always understand. I am not saying that it is a bad Med, but personally, I have never had a need for it. They just order it for almost everybody.

Often the Nurses use the term ‘Heparin’ almost generically. It is sort of like calling every sort of copy machine a ‘Xerox.’ There are a number of different anticoagulants in use. Most people tend to know what Heparin is, so they almost always say that Med.